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Thursday, April 17, 2014

Advice from Nobel Prize Laureate Peter Doherty

This photo was taken about eight years ago when I met Professor Doherty at a book signing. He very good-naturedly posed for a photo, possibly for the 50,000th time that day. (Mind you, how does he manage to look so relaxed and professional while I look like "Nerdsville: Population - Anne"? I think its the backpack full of library books).

It isn’t every day that one gets to converse with a
Nobel laureate, but I had the opportunity to interview immunologist, author and
Nobel prize-winner Peter Doherty this week for The Veterinarian Magazine.

Professor Doherty has a long-standing interested in
infectious diseases and zoonoses (diseases that can be transmitted between
humans and animals). He is also passionate about pandemics (understanding and preventing them, that is).

Professor Doherty trained as a veterinarian then did an
MVSc at the University of Queensland and worked as a veterinary officer before
moving to Scotland to pursue a PhD at the University of Edinburgh Medical
School.

In 1996, Professor Doherty and colleague RolfZinkernagel (Switzerland) shared the Nobel Prize in Physiology or
Medicine for their discovery of the way the immune system recognises
virus-infected cells.

Professor Doherty has over 20 honorary degrees and has
published 397 peer-reviewed papers. (I had to change the toner in my printer just to print his CV!!!)

Sadly, Professor Doherty doesn’t currently have pets as
commuting across the world and working as a tireless ambassador for science
requires too much time away from home to make it work, but he did have some
great advice for veterinarians, vet students and scientists: TALK ABOUT
SCIENCE. You don't need a Nobel Prize to do it (and - not his words mind you - if we all did our bit, it might give the actual Nobel Prize winners the odd moment off to tend to their houseplants and get to the supermarket).

Science can only work well when people are convinced of
its value, and we are ethically charged with the duty of promoting science. Particularly when the science sector is facing challenges from every which way.

Vets
need to think of themselves as scientists…there are so few people in the
community who have real scientific training. By that I mean taking an evidence
based view of the world, not just belief. Anyone that deals with diagnosis has
to take evidence based view…they have to be good observers and come to rational
based conclusion.

Everyone
who has got some sort of science training – and I keep saying this when I talk
to professional groups – can be an ambassador. Learn how to talk about it in
simple and clear terms, talk about it at school board meetings, stick up for
science, and try to explain to people how things work.

Clear communication about the risks and the risk perception around infectious diseases can be particularly important. Needlessly scaring the socks off people can lead to harmful consequences, while failing to inform them can have just as dire consequences.

The
citizen science movement…is powerful. Vets might think about that in terms of
getting citizens involved in observations that are important. We’re already
seeing citizen science working with the bird community, looking at beaches,
marine animals and pollution. If you can get people organised – they all have
cell phones with cameras – they can collect data. We need to involve people,
not tell people. We not to stop lecturing and start involving, if we can do
that will do a lot better job of communication.

If you’d like to hear more about Professor Doherty’s
concerns about zoonotic diseases, sign up for the ASID conference in July.

Veterinary Ethics: Navigating Tough Cases

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